Media systems are currently used in a number of useful applications. For example, security systems can employ media servers to capture surveillance audio and video. Such systems are often complex: particularly in large installations, where elements are widely distributed. Providing redundancy and continuity in security systems is both critical and challenging. Current Internet protocol (IP) networks being used for recording streaming media may have limited redundancy in the case of failures. Such failures are typically disruptive to streaming and, further, are noticeable to users. When a media server fails, the streaming media is abruptly interrupted until a viable backup server is found. This discovering activity causes a significant delay in the streaming media: both in the case of live or recorded data. Accordingly, the ability to properly manage data streams presents a significant challenge to equipment vendors, service providers, and network operators alike.